The Third Estate Sunday Review focuses on politics and culture. We're an online magazine. We don't play nice and we don't kiss butt. In the words of Tuesday Weld: "I do not ever want to be a huge star. Do you think I want a success? I refused "Bonnie and Clyde" because I was nursing at the time but also because deep down I knew that it was going to be a huge success. The same was true of "Bob and Carol and Fred and Sue" or whatever it was called. It reeked of success."

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Barack rebuked

Barack Obama prefers virtual reality.

And you would too if you were a cheapskate who couldn't keep his promises and everyone was talking about it.

Parents of late ISIS hostage Kayla Mueller say Pres. Obama broke promise to donate to charity set up in her name.

219 retweets163 likes

Friday, at the White House press briefing, spokesperson Josh Earnest faced some tough questions about Barack's failure to keep his word.

Q Thanks, Josh. I want to ask you about an interview that the
parents of Kayla Mueller did. Of course, Kayla Mueller was taken
hostage and murdered by ISIS, and the President went out to visit with
the family about 17 months ago. Her parents say that, during that
visit, the President had promised to make a donation to a foundation
they had set up in Kayla's name. Is that correct? Did he make that
promise?
MR. EARNEST: Well, Jon, let me just start by saying that obviously the
ordeal that the Mueller family has had to endure is unimaginable. And
their daughter, Kayla Mueller, was a special person who had a special
calling in her life. And I actually still remember the first time that
we were in this room talking about reports of her death. And her
parents made public a letter that she had written and been able to
deliver to them, or have delivered to them, where she talked about how
her life had been fulfilled based on her passion to serve people in
need. And I think the line that she used was she said that she recalled
seeing God in the eyes of people who were in crisis. It's a really
profound statement for somebody who was -- she was just in her late
twenties when she was killed.
And her life and her example I think has had an impact on people all
across the country. Her life and her example have had an impact on
people here at the White House, myself included. And given all that, I
think the pain and grief that continues to be experienced to this day by
Kayla's parents I think is entirely understandable.
What I can say -- I'm not going to speak to any private conversations
that the President has had with the Mueller family. I know that they've
given an interview. What I will say is the President is aware of the
foundation, Kayla's Hands, that's been formed to honor her memory and to
honor her life's work. Is certainly is consistent with the kind of
charitable organization that the President and the First Lady have
supported in the past. And I do anticipate that the President would
make a commitment to support this organization moving forward.
Q What Carl Mueller, Kayla's father, said is that the President in
that meeting, back in March of last year -- that he said that he would
be making a donation to the foundation, and 17 months later he says the
donation has not been made. Can you confirm that no donation has been
made?
MR. EARNEST: Well, listen, I wasn’t a part of the conversation.
Obviously, Mr. Mueller and the President were. So what I can tell you
is --
Q But you wouldn’t think he would lie about this?
MR. EARNEST: No, I'm not accusing anybody of not telling the truth.
I'm just indicating that I wasn’t part of the meeting. And even if I
were, I wouldn’t -- this is a private conversation. The President
obviously is aware of the foundation that's been set up to support the
life's work of Kayla Mueller, and it is exactly the kind of organization
that the President and First Lady have supported in the past, and I
would anticipate that this is a foundation that the President and First
Lady would support.
Q Can you think of any reason that would prompt a delay like that?
I mean, I know the President is obviously busy. Could he have
forgotten about it? Or is there something that would prevent him as
President for making a donation?
MR. EARNEST: Again, I can't speak to any promises or conversations between the President and the Mueller family directly.
Q The Mueller family, both parents, also expressed some
disappointment with the amounts -- or saying that the efforts that were
taken to free Kayla before she was murdered were inadequate. What Carl
Mueller says is the President could have been a hero, but he chose not
to. What's your reaction to that?
MR. EARNEST: Again, this is a father who is grieving over the loss of
his daughter. And again, I think the grief and sadness that he feels
about the fact that his daughter was not successfully rescued I think is
an entirely human response and one that's entirely understandable.
What I will say, Jon, is that at the direction of President Obama
himself, a variety of national security agencies in the federal
government expend significant resources and dedicate significant time to
going to great lengths to try to rescue Americans who are being
unjustly held against their will around the world.
And you’ll also recall, Jon -- I know you covered this closely -- there
were some weaknesses in that approach that were identified by the
administration. And there have been important reforms that have been
made to that process over the course of the last 18 to 24 months that
have resulted in more effective use of those resources and more
effective use of the expertise within the federal government to sharpen
our efforts to secure the return, or to rescue American citizens held
against their will around the world.
There also has been a concerted effort made to improve the way in which
the federal government of the United States communicates with families
who are in this unspeakable situation, like the Mueller family was. And
the President has been pleased by the way those reforms have improved
the effectiveness, both in terms of securing the release of American
hostages, but also in terms of communicating more clearly and directly
with families who are in that difficult situation.
But the President hopes that the pace of improvement will continue as the reforms take root.
Q And I remember one of those issues was the question of private
individuals paying ransom. The Muellers say that White House officials
threatened them with criminal prosecution if they tried to pay the $6
million ransom that ISIS was demanding. Is that correct?
MR. EARNEST: Well, as we’ve talked about before, there are sort of
three aspects to this. The first is, I’m just not going to get into
private conversations between government officials and families who are
in this difficult situation. I can tell you that it is not the policy
of the Obama administration to threaten families like these who are in
this situation with prosecution.
But thirdly, the United States does have a policy that we have
assiduously followed of not paying ransom. And that is a very painful
policy, and it’s understandable that families like the Muellers would
have grave concerns about that policy, both as a policy matter, and I
can understand them raising some pretty thorny moral questions about
that, too. But the conclusion that President Obama reached is the same
conclusion that previous Presidents in both parties have reached, which
is that to get in the habit of paying ransom would only make Americans
traveling overseas a more appetizing target to criminal or terrorist
organizations that are hoping to collect a ransom.
And so for that reason, we’ve made clear and we have carefully followed
a policy of not paying ransom, even to secure the release of Americans
who are being held against their will overseas.
Q Okay, and just a last question, Josh. So just to be clear, the
first line of questioning here. Can the Mueller family expect that the
President, that the Obamas will make a donation to their daughter’s --
to the foundation in the name of Kayla Mueller soon?
MR. EARNEST: As I mentioned, I can’t speak to any previous conversations that they’ve had, but I can tell you that --
Q But is a donation coming, is the question.

MR. EARNEST: The foundation, Kayla’s Hands, that’s been established in
her memory is certainly the kind of foundation that the President and
First Lady have supported in the past. And I would anticipate that they
would make a financial contribution to continue supporting it.

Search This Blog

Third Estate Sunday Review

About Me

Jim, Dona, Jess, Ty, "Ava" started out this site as five students enrolled in journalism in NY. Now? We're still students. We're in CA. Journalism? The majority scoffs at the notion.
From the start, at the very start, C.I. of The Common Ills has helped with the writing here. C.I.'s part of our core six/gang. (C.I. and Ava write the TV commentaries by themselves.) So that's the six of us. We also credit Dallas as our link locator, soundboard and much more. We try to remember to thank him each week (don't always remember to note it here) but we'll note him in this. So this is a site by the gang/core six: Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I. (of The Common Ills).